Oscillating cutter ripper miner



Sept. 30, 1969 G. A. MARBERG OSCILLATING CUTTER RIPPER yMINER' 5 sheets-sheet 1 original Filed Jan. s, 196'?.

BY ATTORNEYS SEP@ 30, 1969 G. A. MARBERG OSCILLATING CUTTER RIPPER MINER I5 Sheets-Sheet Original Filed Jan. 5,' 1967 Sept- 30, 1969 G. A. MARBERG 3,469,885

OSCILLATING CUTTER RIPPER MINER Original Filed Jan. 5, 196'?` v 5 Sheets-Sheet ,V y 1 g D Wil.

60.574,# 4455/27 A44/WG EN@ WJ ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 3,469,885 OSCILLATING CUTTER RIPPER MINER Gustai:I Albert Marberg, Oak Park, Ill., assignor to Westinghouse Air Brake Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Continuation of application Ser. No. 606,646, Jan. 3, 1967. This application Oct. 15, 1968, Ser. No. 770,888 Int. Cl. E21c 25/12 U.S. Cl. 299-71 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Oscillating mining head ripper type continuous miner having rotary ripper mining heads supported on vertically movable boom arms on parallelogram linkages. Individual motors connected between the boom arms and the parallelogram linkages oscillatably move the mining heads back and forth across the forward ends of the yboom arms in a plurality of parallel vertical planes, extending parallel to the ribs of the working place.

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 606,646 liled J an. 3, 1967 and now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART Oscillating head types of ripper miners in common use today support the rotary mining heads on the ends of boom arms and oscillate the mining heads yback and forth about relatively long radii by oscillatably driving the boom arms as the lboom arms feed `the mining heads vertically along the working Iface of the mine. This results in stepped ribs along the working place and an irregular face with a relatively large cusp at the center of the working place. The result is an irregular floor and roof as well as stepped ribs which are objectionable, making it necessary to trim the cusps along the oor and roof of the mine `by a separate trimming operation, to avoid the impeding of the progress of the miner into the working fact of the mine, and to accommodate shuttle cars or like material carrying vehicles to readily move into material receiving relation with respect to the conveyor of the miner.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION AND OBJECTS The present invention is an improvement upon the prior types of ripper miners having oscillating heads in that the mining heads are oscillatably moved from side to side relatively to the boom arms in `a plurality of parallel vertical planes through which the 4mining heads operate when swinging from side to side, positioning the mining heads to mine straight ribs when positioned adjacent the ribs of Ithe work-ing place and to mine along the face in overlapping paths, resulting in a clean straight roof, face and floor with minimum cusps left along the roof and floor of the mine at the center of the Working place.

A principal object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide an improved form of oscillating head-type ripper miner in which the rotating mining heads are supported `on the ends of the boom arms for the heads, for movement back and `forth in a plurality of parallel vertical planes `during an operation of mining.

A further object of the invention is to improve upon the ripper types of continuous miners heretofore in use by supporting the mining heads on the ends of the boom arms of the machine by parallel'ogram linkages, and to rotatably drive the mining heads at constant velocities during oscillation thereof, to effect more even distribution of the work loads on the mining heads and to move |the mining heads back and Iforth `along their axes t-o cut in overlapping paths.

3,469,885 Patented Sept. 30, 1969 These and other objects of the invention will appear from time to time as the following specification proceeds and with reference to the `accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 is a top plan View of the forward end portion of an oscillating head type of ripper miner constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a View `in side elevation of the lforward end portion of the machine shown in FIGURE l, with a mining head shown in vertical section; and

FIGURE 3 is a transverse sectional view taken -through a part of one of the mining heads generally along line III-III of FIGURE 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In FIGURES l and 2 of the drawings, I have generally shown the forward end portion of a continuous mining machine 10 of the ripper type having two rotatably driven oscillatably movable mining heads 11 mounted on the forward end of a boom which comprises individual, interconnected boom arms 12 extending in advance of a main frame 13 for the machine, and transversely pivoted to the forward end portion of said main frame for vertical movement about the axes of aligned transverse shafts 15, in a manner which will hereinafter be more clearly described as this specification proceeds.

The main frame 13 is mounted on laterally spaced continuous traction tread devices 16, driven in a conventional manner to propel -the -machine along the ground 4from working place to working place at a high tramming speed, and to advance the machine toward a working face at a relatively low `feeding speed, to feed or sump the mining heads 11 into the working face of a mine.

A loading head 17 extends in advance of the forward end of the main frame 13 and is transversely pivoted thereto on laterally spaced pivot pins 18. The loading head 17 may be of any conventional form and includes an inclined apron 19 extending across the front of a conveyor 20, Iherein shown as being a laterally flexible chain and flight conveyor, conveying the `mined material beyond the rear end of the machine `for loading onto suitable material transporting devices, such as shuttle cars or a conveyor, or like material transporting equipment. The inclined apron 19 rests upon the `ground during the mining operation and is crowded under the material mined by the continuous traction tread devices 16 in a conventional manner. The Width `of the apron 19 is suicient to contain all the material mined bythe mining heads 11 and may be extended 'by wings 21 extending along yopposite sides tl ereof, by the operation of fluid pressure operated cylinders and pistons 22 (FIGURE l).

The inclined apron 19 is raised 'and lowered to elevate the forward end `of the apron above the mine Ifloor when it is desired to tram the machine from working place to working place, by Iiiuid pressure operated `cylinders 23 having pistons (not shown) therein and piston rods 24 extensible therefrom and pivotally connected to opposite sides yof the apron 19 as by .pivot pins 25. The cylinders 23 are transversely pivoted at their head ends to the main 'frame 13 as by transverse pivot pins 26.

The arms 12 of the boom are suitably connected together at their inner forward end portions 'and each has a relatively wide front face 27 forming a support for a rotary mining head 11 on a parallelogram linkage 29. Each boom arm 12 tapers toward its rear end Iand is pivotally mounted at its rear end on the associated .transverse pivot pin yon a bearing 341, which may he a lselfaaligning bearing to accommodate Ifor back and forth weaving movement of the boom arms caused by oscillatable back and forth movement of the mining heads 11 along their axes of rotation.

Each boom `arm 12 also has la downwardly inclined arm 32 extending rearwardly of the pivot pin 15 and pivotally connected to a piston rod 33 on a pivot pin 34. The piston rod 33 is shown in FIGURE l as extending from la piston 35 movable along a fluid pressure cylinder 36. The cylinder 36 has spaced ears 37 extending from the head end thereof and extending between the furcations of a bifurcated bracket 39 and pivotally connected thereto as by a pivot pin 40.

The mining heads 11 each include an inner housing 41 generally cylindrical in form and la generally cylindrical outer housing 42 spaced laterally ytherefrom a distance substantially equal to a cutter disk 44 disposed between said housings. Similar end cutter disks 44 extend along the ends of said housings and are journalled therein for rotatable movement with respect thereto. The cutter disks 44 have clusters of cutter bits 4S extending generally radially of the periphery thereof and inclined inwardly and outwardly with respect to the centers of said disks and pitched `to cut upon rotatable movement of said disks as said disks are oscillatably moved along their axes in a plurality of parallel vertical planes through which the cutter disks operate as they are swung from side to side and fed vertically along the working 'face of a mine.

The cylindrical housing 42 forms `a gear reducer housing and has a housing 43 extending rearwardly therefrom along an outer end of the carriage 47 and welded or otherwise secured thereto. The housing 41 has a bracket portion 46 extending rearwardly therefrom lalong la front face 47a of the carriage 47, and welded or otherwise secured thereto.

The parallelogram linkage supports 29 for the carriages 47 and mining heads 11 each include outer and inner parallel links 48 and 49 extending -within open portions of Ithe carriage 47 and pvotally connected thereto as by vertical pivot pins 50 and 51 respectively. The rear end portions of the links 48 and 49 are of bifurcated formation and extend above and below brackets 52 and 53 extending forwardly ofthe front face 27 of the boom arm 12 :and are respectively pivotally connected thereto as by vertical pivot pins 54 and 5S. It may be seen from FIG- URE 2 that the parallel links are relatively deep and are deeper than the depth of the associated boom arm 12 to provide a -rigid parallelogram lsupport for the carriage 47 and the associated mining head 11.

The outer parallel link 48 has a connector 57 extending angul-arly inwardly and rearwardly therefrom toward' the front face 27 of the boom arm 12. The connector 57 may have a bifurcated inner end portion within which extends a piston rod 59. A pivot pin 60 is provided to pivotally connect the end of said piston rod to said connector.

The piston rod 59 extends from a cylinder 61, and through both ends of said cylinder, to equalize the pressure areas on 4opposite ends of the piston (not shown) within said cylinder and connected with said piston rod, and thereby equalizing the forces and velocities moving the mining heads back and forth 'in `a plurality of parallel planes. The cylinder 61 in turn is shown as being trunnioned intermediate its ends on trunnion pins 63 mounted in a trunnion bracket 65 extending inwardly of an inner wall 66 of the boom 12 along opposite sides of the cylinder 61. The alternate admission of liuid under pressure to opposite ends of the cylinder 61 will thus oscillatably move the associated ripper mining head 11, with the end faces of the end cutter disks 44 parallel to the ribs of the Working place in all positions of lateral movement thereof.

rThe housing 42 forms la housing for bevel gear drive gearing `69, driving `a transverse shaft 70, in a suitable manner, to rotate the cutter disks 44, at the required rates of speed. The shaft 70 extends beyond the ends of :the housings 41 and 42 and has an inner cutter disk 44 keyed or otherwise secured to the inner end thereof. The outer cutter disk 44 on the outside of the housing 42 may also be keyed or otherwise secured to the opposite end of said shaft. The intermediate cutter disk 44 between lthe housings 41 and 42 is shown as being mounted on the inner end of a drum 73, rotatably supported within the housing 41, on spaced radial thrust bearings 75. The drum 73 has a reduced outer end portion 76 extending .along a hub 77 of the inner cutter disk 44 and secured to an annular drive block 79, recessed within `said |cutter disk, las by machine screws 80. The drive lblock 79 in turn is secured to the end cutter disk 44 fas by machine screws 81. The shaft 70 will thus rotatably drive all of the cutter disks 44 at the same rates of speed from the bevel gear train 69. The bevel gear train 69 may drive additional reduction gearing within the housing 42, where necessary to reduce the speed of the shaft 70 and cutter disks 44, tand is driven from a shaft 82 extending along the housing 43. The shaft 82 is driven from a motor 85, shown in FIGURE 1 as being mounted on a motor bracket `86, extending laterally of the outer side of the boom arm 12, and as extending rearwardly `of said motor bracket. The motor `85 may be a conventional electric motor, in which a speed reducer housing is secured to `and forms a part of the motor casing and has reduction gearing 87 contained therein, driving `a drive shaft 88, extending forwardly of the motor bracket 86. The drive shaft 88 drives the shaft '82 through ta universal drive coupling 89, an extensible drive shaft 90, and `a universal drive coupling 91. The universal drive couplings ,89 and 91 .may be constant velocity couplings of a :conventional form, to drive the cutter disks 44 at uniform velocities in all positions of `os-cillatable movement thereof.

In the operation of mining, at the beginning of a mining cycle, the rotating and oscillating mining heads may be elevated to a position adjacent the mine roof, by operation of the fluid pressure operated cylinders and pistons 36, 36. The mining heads may then be held in these positions by the holding of iuid under pressure in the head ends of said cylinders, and while in these elevated positions, may be sumped into the mine face, by the application of power to the continuous traction tread devices 16. When the rotating and Ioscillating mining heads have been sumped into the mine face to the required depth, fluid under pressure may be admitted to the piston rod ends of the cylinders 36 to feed the oscillating mining heads downwardly along the mine face to positions adjacent the mine oor, or under certain mining conditions pressure may be released from the piston rod ends of the cylinders 36, and the heads may move downwardly by gravity under the control of suitable valve means (not shown). As the rotating and oscillating mining heads reach the oor, they may again be elevated to the roof for a next sumping cut, by the admission of uid under pressure to the head ends of the cylinders 36.

During the entire mining operation the oscillating cylinders and pistons 61, 61 will move the mining heads back and forth about the axes of the parallel links 48 and 49 in modified straight line paths, with the end cutter disks 44, 44 substantially parallel to the associated ribs of the working place in all positions of lateral movement thereof. This will provide a substantially square face and rib, with a minimum amount of cusps left between the mining heads along the roof and floor, as they approach the center of the seam.

While I have herein shown and described one form in which the invention may be embodied, it should be understood that various variations and modifications in the invention may be attained without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts thereof.

What is claimed is:

1. In a ripper type continuous mining machine, a mobile main frame, a boom extending forwardly beyond the main frame, at least one ripper mining head mounted forwardly of said boom for rotation about a horizontal transverse axis, and power means for rotatably driving said mining lhead, the improvement comprising:

a parallel linkage arrangement mounting said mining head on said boom and extending forwardly from said boom and being movable back and forth across said boom during rotation of said mining head, to enable the mining head to operate through a plurality of generally parallel vertical planes as the mining head is swung from side to side,

and other power means for moving said mining head back and forth during rotation thereof.

2. The structure of claim 1, wherein the power means for moving said mining head back and forth across the front of said boom comprises fluid pressure operated cylinder and piston means between the boom and 'che linkage arrangement.

3. The structure of claim 2, wherein the mining head comprises a plurality of coaxial laterally spaced cutter disks, having cutter bits projecting therefrom and pitched to cut clearance for said disks and to cut during sidewise movement of said disks along their axes.

4. The structure of claim 1, wherein the mining head comprises a pair of aligned laterally spaced housings having cutter disks journalled within said housings and extending radially of the ends thereof and having cutter bits projecting therefrom and pitched to cut during sidewise and rotatable movement of said bits, as advanced into a mine face by said boom.

5. The structure of claim 1, wherein said mining head comprises a pair of laterally spaced aligned housings, a drum rotatably journalled in at least one of said housings and having a cutter disk secured to each end thereof beyond each end of said housing, a transverse shaft for driving an outer end cutter disk on said drum and an end cutter disk journalled in a second of said two housings, wherein each of said housings are supported on said parallelogram linkage arrangement, and wherein the power means for rotatably driving said mining head comprises a universal extensible drive connection to said shaft and cutter disks.

6. The structure of claim 1, wherein said boom is mounted on the main frame for vertical movement relative thereto, wherein power means is provided for moving said mining head vertically, which comprises cylinder and piston means connected between said main frame and said boom, and wherein said power means for moving said mining head back and forth comprises cylinder and piston means connected between said boom and said linkage arrangement.

7. The structure of claim 1, wherein said boom comprises two boom arms which extend beyond the forward end of said main frame and are pivotally mounted on said main frame for angular movement about `laterally spaced coaxial transverse axes, wherein individual hydraulic cylinders and pistons are provided to move said boom arms vertically about said transverse axes, wherein said boom arms have widened forward ends, each with an individual ripper mining head mounted forwardly thereof by a parallel linkage arrangement comprising a pair of links pivotally mounted respectively between the widened forward end of eaoh boom arm and an associated mining head, and wherein the power means for moving said mining heads back and forth comprises an individual cylinder and piston connected between each boom arm and a link of said pair of parallel links for an associated mining head.

8. The structure of claim 7, wherein the mining heads each comprise a pair of aligned laterally spaced housings having cutter disks journalled within said housings and extending radially of the ends thereof and having cutter bits projecting therefrom and pitched to cut during sidewise and rotatable movement of said bits as moved back and forth by said parallel links and as advanced by said boom arms into and vertically along a mine face during rotation of said mining heads, wherein drive connections on said boom arms are provided to rotatably drive said disks, and wherein said drive connections each comprise at least two constant velocity luniversal joints, a telescopic shaft connecting said universal joints together, and a drive shaft journalled within said housings and driven from said universal joints and driving said disks at imiform velocities during oscillatable movement thereof.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 19,032 12/1933 Pray 299-75 1,244,178 10/1917 Davis 299-75 X 1,456,930 5/ 1923 Oloroyd 299-75 1,660,083 2/1928 Morgan 299-75 2,695,164 11/1954 Arentzen 299-71 3,382,003 5/1968 Hauschopp 299-34 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,186,435 2/1965 Germany.

ERNEST R. PURSER, Primary Examiner 

